Definition
An additional fee paid to counsel in a prolonged or adjourned case, supplementing the original fee marked on the brief. In English practice, a refresher became payable for each day of trial beyond the first, compensating counsel for continued preparation and attendance when a matter extended past its originally anticipated length. Whether a refresher would be recovered as a cost against the losing party was a matter for the taxing officer's discretion — it was allowable but not automatically awarded on taxation.
The term is primarily a term of English practice and appears in American legal literature largely as a borrowed concept. Its practical significance diminished as fee structures evolved in both jurisdictions.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Something that refreshes; a review exercise to renew knowledge; a fee paid to counsel to continue a case; also, in corporate finance, an equity grant to an existing employee.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): An extra fee paid to counsel when a case is adjourned from one term to another or unusually protracted; ten guineas per day cited as the maximum counsel could charge.
The common language and legal meaning align closely here — both Webster's 1913 and the legal dictionaries describe the same phenomenon. The notable gap is that modern general usage (Wiktionary) has expanded "refresher" to include educational review courses and corporate equity grants entirely unrelated to the legal fee context. A researcher encountering "refresher" in a modern document outside a historical English litigation context should not assume the legal fee meaning applies.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
The Rapalje & Lawrence entry distinguishes two historical practice contexts worth noting:
Queen's Bench Division: A refresher was paid to each counsel for every day the trial extended beyond the first day. This was a per diem supplement keyed to trial duration.
Old Chancery practice: Because evidence was seldom taken viva voce in Chancery, the fee marked on the original brief was calibrated to reflect anticipated duration, making a separate refresher less standard. The structure of the underlying fee compensated for what Queen's Bench handled through the refresher mechanism.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in historical English litigation records, cost taxation disputes, or biography of the English bar will encounter "refresher" as a routine term in case files, solicitors' accounts, and costs proceedings. Its presence signals a multi-day trial and may help establish the relative complexity or duration of historical proceedings.
On taxation of costs: the discretionary nature of allowance is the key research point. A refresher claimed by counsel was not automatically recoverable from the opposing party. Taxing masters could disallow it, and the question of when refreshers were appropriate generated some procedural commentary. Researchers tracing costs disputes should not assume that a refresher paid privately to counsel was the same as a refresher allowed on taxation.
American usage: This term appears rarely in American primary sources. When it does appear in 19th-century American legal literature, it is typically borrowed from English practice and may signal either a lawyer trained in England or a writer drawing on English authority. Do not read English refresher practice into American fee arrangement disputes without verifying the specific procedural context.
Corpus connections: Refresher appears alongside terms like brief fee, retainer, and general retainer in English litigation practice materials. It also surfaces in taxation-of-costs contexts alongside terms like solicitor and client costs and party and party costs. Understanding the distinction between what counsel charged and what was recoverable on taxation is essential background for any document referencing a refresher.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) give nearly identical, spare definitions: a further or additional fee to counsel in a long case, allowable but not necessarily allowed on taxation. This brevity reflects that the concept was well understood by the practicing bar and required no extended explanation.
Rapalje & Lawrence provides the most operationally useful entry, distinguishing Queen's Bench and Chancery practice and clarifying the per diem character of the Queen's Bench refresher. This is the dictionary entry most useful to researchers who need to understand how the fee actually functioned in practice rather than merely that it existed.
Webster's 1913 is notably precise for a general dictionary, citing ten guineas per day as the maximum and correctly identifying both the adjournment and protraction triggers. This suggests the term was sufficiently embedded in educated public discourse to merit a careful general-dictionary entry, consistent with its frequent appearance in press coverage of major Victorian trials.
None of the historical dictionaries address the American reception of the concept or its decline as a recognized fee category. Researchers should treat these entries as describing English practice at a particular moment rather than as statements of ongoing or transatlantic doctrine.
Jurisdictional Note
Refresher as a formal fee category is an English common law practice term. American jurisdictions did not systematically adopt it, and American bar fee arrangements followed different structural conventions. Researchers working exclusively in American materials are unlikely to encounter it except as a borrowed English term.